Desperate Measures
by WateryMind
Summary: The galaxy holds many secrets. Some more dangerous then others. This is the story of some of these secrets. Set in The Last Spartan-verse, written with permission. OCs, rated for swearing and future content.
1. Prologue

_Epsilon Eridani System, 6 months ago..._

Sangheili ships were a common site in the Epsilon Eridani, or as it's more commonly known, the Reach System. A great number of these ships were civilian, tourists from Sanghelios and her colonies come to visit the site of the bloodiest battle in the Human-Covernant War. Other ships were trade vessels, packed with the wares of the Sangheili Empire and ready to turn a profit. However, on this day, there was one ship that was in the system for neither of those reasons. This ship, a small, unassuming frigate speeding towards one of the many defence platforms in orbit above Reach, was carrying a very secretive and valuable cargo.

In a meeting room onboard the station, a man watched as ships flew by in silence. His admirals uniform was crisp, clean, and his hair was well trimmed. In his hand was a datapad, containing reports of attacks on colonies, human and Covernant. Then, he heard the door into the room open, and with measured steps a Sangheili entered the room. His armor was silver, adorned with golden patterns, and clasped to his shoulders was a simple red cloak, the tail of which barely reaching the floor. The Sangheili walked to a spot besides the human, but remained slient, observing the planet before them.

Then, after a few moments, the human turned and spoke.

"Thank you for coming, Admiral," Admiral Steven Hackett, extending a hand towards the Sangheili, who had turned to face him.

"The nature of your summons necessitated my presence, Admiral," Imperial Admiral Rtas 'Vadum replied, taking the human's hand with his own and shaking. Turning away from the vista of Reach, the two made their way to the room's table, Hackett seating himself on a chair on one side, while 'Vadum kneed in a way that was comfortable on the other.

"I'm sorry about that. We don't have any Sangheili chairs on the station," Hackett said. 'Vadum waved off his concern.

"It is a small matter, and not one that demands my attention. What does demand my attention are your reports," he replied, a hand absent-mindedly scratching at his missing jaw. Hackett nodded and pushed the datapad across the table to the Sangheili.

"Raids on border colonies. Human, Turian, Sangheili. Seems to be no pattern. Little to no evidence, or survivors, left, but we do have video from one colony," Hackeet said, as 'Vadum selected the video in question and growled at what he saw.

"Brutes," was all he said. Hackett nodded.

"Now, Brute pirates are normally brutal and violent. These Brutes, though... they're looking for something. And they are not operating alone," he said. 'Vadum nodded, having reached the same conclusion as Hackett.

"The Terminus Systems. A group or individual seeking something in these colonies, using Brutes and their ilk as their tools," the Imperial Admiral said. "But how does this meeting help us?" Hackett chuckled darkly, then pushed another datapad towards 'Vadum.

"From this point onwards, this meeting never happened. This is ONI's plan, not mine," Hackett said. 'Vadum nodded, then read the datapad's contents. As he read it, his jaws slowly moved into an approximation of a smile. Finally, he set the datapad down.

"I like it. It's risky. Could bring ruin down on both our heads," he said, standing. Hackett nodded, standing as well. The two walked to each other and shook hands once more.

"Black ops are always risky. But the prize... Might just be worth it."

_Undisclosed Location, Present Day..._

"_All troopers to your stations. Prepare for combat drop. I repeat, all troopers to your stations. Prepare for combat drop."_

"Yesh, we get it already!" a voice shouted over the announcement. Its owner was a human, with dark brown hair that at one point was cropped back, but now had grown far longer then any respectable commander would allow. His eyes were a deep blue, and his face was hardened, but handsome. He rolled his shoulders, before tightening the straps of his armor. Said armor was jet black, the only colouration on it a white skull painted onto the right shoulder and chest, and a small ace of spades symbol on his wrists. Then, once he was happy with his armor, Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Operations Chief James "Ace" Buck banged his helmet on the table in front of him, gaining the attention of the 5 other people in the room.

One was carefully cleaning a ODST Valiant sniper rifle on top of a crate. His armor was scuffed, dented, and had dirt stains on the chest and knee plates. His hair was a dirty blond, his focused eyes a deep blue. His armor also had a white skull painted onto the chest, as did the armor of everyone in the room. However, his armor also had small burning bullets on the shoulder armor. Gunnery Chief Jacob "Hotshot" George looked up for a moment, before returning to his task.

Beside Hotshot, leaning against the wall, was the team's combat medic. Corporal Goltia "Dancer" Moyle was busily tapping at her omnitool, her brown hair tied back into a ponytail. Her armor had a picture of a dancing woman on it; rumor was that she posed for the small painting herself. Anyone who dared to ask, however, quickly found that the young Earthborn put an emphasis on the "combat" part of her job description.

Across from Dancer, seated on top of a box that had, in four different languages, "CAUTION: HIGH EXPLOSIVE" printed on it, was the 'token black man" as he refered to himself as; Service Chief Tyron "Boomer" Wayneson, the team's explosives expert. His armor was, naturally, decorated with a depiction of a mushroom cloud. Presently, Boomer was petting his pride and joy as if it were a pet: A prototype for a weapon labelled the M-920. Painted carefully onto the side of the weapon was the word "Cain".

At the far end of the room stood the team's last two members: Two Sangheili that were worlds apart. The first was decked out in Special Operations armor, painted black with a white Shangheili skull painted onto the chest. Gruff, to the point and serious even by Sangheili standards, Yors 'Gorhoasai leaned against the wall. In the middle of his lifespan, he prefered to let his actions speak, and enjoyed making his point with his energy swords, one attached to each thigh, a habit that earned him the callsign "Bladerunner".

The other Sangheili was completely different. Heas 'Jwanspon was a young Shangheili major who followed the "Squidhead" youth cuture. Bobbing his head in very human fashion in time to whatever music he had playing in his ears, the young warrior wore a custom made combat harness with more powerful shields then those of his elder. A necessity of his role; Shock trooper. To this end, Heas had beside him a "plasma minigun", as he called it. Callsign: Thumper.

As the team turned their attention to the centre of the room, a glow materialized on the table in the centre. After a moment, it solidified into a figure. The figure was a male human, and was dressed in a simple business suit.

"Bravo Squad. We're heading to a small Sangheili colony not to far from here on the edge of Empire space. According to reports, the colony has been occupied by pirates consisting primarily of Brutes. We want to know why," said Keyes, the _Shadow of Dawn_'s AI said.

"Orders?" Yors asked, the gruff Sangheili whacking Heas over the head, rousing the younger Sangheili from his music.

"Go in hard, go in fast. The Shipmaster has requested that you, and I quote, "Slaughter each of every last one of those fucking Brutes"," Keyes replied. Ace nodded.

"Drop time?" the Operations Chief asked, grabbing his helmet.

"20 minutes. We slip in two."

**ONI REPORT: THE _SHADOW OF DAWN_**

_The _Shadow of Dawn _is, alongside the _SSV Normandy_, one of the most advanced ships in Citadel Space. It's also the most advanced ship no one has ever heard of. Constructed in _**[REDACTED]**_, this high tech stealth frigate combines the heat sink technology pioneered for the _Normandy_, with Sangheili cloaking technology and weaponry. _

_Completed 4 months ago, the _Shadow of Dawn _is a Human-Sangheili Black Ops vessel, and is outfitted as such. Geared towards avoiding fights rather then winning them, the ship's primary purpose is getting it's compartment of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers in and out of operations. When forced into a battle, however, the _Dawn_ does have formidable plasma torpedoes and a mass driver at its disposal._

_Fittingly for a ship that doesn't officially exist, the _Shadow of Dawn_ breaks no less then 20 Council laws regarding the 314 Relay Races, the most serious of these being the bans on Slipspace drives and Artifical Inteligences. The ship's primary Faster Then Light drive is a Sangheili-built Slipspace drive, which completely outstrips standard mass effect drives. The ship's resident AI, Keyes, provides ground teams with Overwatch and intel, and, when needed, can control the ship's weapon's targeting systems. _

_In the event that the _Shadow of Dawn _is captured by a Citidal Race ship or fleet, the ship's self destruct will be activated by Keyes, setting off a medium yield nuclear device inside the ships hull, eliminating all evidence of it's existence. _


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1: Killing Is Our Business...**_

_Dropping into Hell isn't our job. Making sure it's full when we get there is._

_-Unknown Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, during the Fall of Reach._

The saying goes, "it's not the fall that kills you". As his drop pod entered the planet's atmosphere, Ace pondered, as he always did, on the meaning of these words, and the possible implications. Of course, as his pod hit the surface of some no-name Sangheili colony on the edges of the Forerunner Cluster, he hoped that he would even have to experience the ultimate meaning of those words first hand. As the restraints raised themselves up, Ace noticed a bloodstain on the bottom of the reinforced glass viewport in the pod's door. Smirking, he banged on the back wall of the pod, received a reply a split second later, grabbed his ODST Valkyrie from where it was racked, then banged on the pod wall again before activating the pod door's blast-bolts.

The blast blew the pod door clean off, sending it flying for 50 feet, kicking the universe's unluckiest Jackel in the process. A mirrored blast signaled the rear blast door coming off as well. Ace brought his unfolding rifle up, and went to work. One burst took down a jacket too slow to bring up it's arm shield, the second took a Batarian's head off, shields and all. Turning around the pod, he pressed his back against the still-warm metal as a wave of fire impacted against the pod. Beside him, Hotshot was letting his Valient cool down, his helmet visor still clear like Ace's.

"All pods down?" Ace called into his helmet's TAC-COM unit. A resounding (and relieving) courus of afimitives was yes answer. Ace grinned and nodded to Hotshot, the sniper's visor going dark.

"Lets get to work then," Ace said, tapping a button on his wrist and turning his visor dark.

The small colony was situated on one side of a small valley. The buildings were small, uniform and spartan. At the foot of the colony was what would be an amazing site for most Council races, but to the Forerunner Cluster races was fairly common; A Forerunner building, in fairly good condition. Ace and Hotshot's pod came down near the middle of the colony, where the rearguard of the Brute raiding party was stationed. Dancer and Boomer's hit the dirt aroudn 100 meters up the hill from Ace's, while the two Sangheili's pod came down further door the hill, closer to the main pack. The sounds of gunfight and plasma impacts were evidence that the two warrior's had dove right on in. Looking up the hill, Ace saw Dancer and Boomer running towards them, Boomer holding a black tube across his shoulder. As Ace watched, Boomer skidded to a stop and, as Dancer fired her ODST Crusader shotgun at the pack of pirates advancing on Ace and Hotshot, aimed the tube at the pirates, then pressed a button on the side. A hissing sound was heard, followed by a stream of gases, a small projectile flying through the air, and finally the pirates, consisting of a Brute, two Jackels and three Batarians, vaporizing in an impressive explosion. Tossing the tube aside, Boomer jogged towards Ace and Hotshot, pulling a ODST Hurricane from his back as he approached.

"Am I good, or what?" he said, the grin evident in his voice. Ace sighed and shook his head.

"I reckon the rocket deserves a medal," Hotshot deadpanned, pointing his rifle at the discarded missile tube. Dancer snorted as Boomer visibly slumped.

"Enough small talk. There's about thirty bad guys between us and our Sangheili pals," Ace said, stepping out from behind the drop pod and pointing at the raging gunbattle ahead of them.

"Poor guys. Brutes are most likely begging for mercy by now," Hotshot said. He then raised his rifle and looked down the scope. "Looks like the colony's security team is still kicking and screaming. Seeing gunfire from the furthest building."

"No shit. It's a Sangheili colony," Boomer said.

"We're moving. Now. Piority is pulling Runner and Thumper out of the fire. Then we go find out why these Brutes are here in the first place. Sync?" Ace said.

"Sync," the other three Drop Troopers replied instantly. Ace nodded, then raised his rifle and started moving down the hill.

Thumper and Bladerunner were moving down the hill, towards the building the Sangheili sercurity team was holded up in. However, this meant going through the Brutes and Batarain's attempting to get into said building, as well as defending themselves from the rest of the attackers behind them. To this end, they had ended up trapped in the only defensible cover avalible; one of the many pre-fab buildings that made up the small colony. Bladerunner was pressed up against the edge of the door, taking potshots at the enemy with his Needle Rifle every once in a while. Thumper, meanwhile, had set up his minigun in a window and was firing it at anything that moved, roaring a battlecry as he did so. As he yelled, his weapon's torrent of plasma ripped through the shields of an unlucky Batarain, melting through his armor and genereally ending his existence painfully. Bladerunner, meanwhile, shot a Jackel through the gap in it's shield, before tagging it 3 times in the chest. The Jackel promptly exploded into pink mist.

"Good shot," Thumper shouted over his gunfire.

"Thank you," Runner replied gruffly, before looking over at Thumper in time to see a Brute pop into existence, Gravity Hammer in hand. Bladerunner dropped his rifle, before grabbing one of the hilts from his thighs and rushing forward. With speed impressive by Sangheili standards, he swept the now deployed Energy Sword upwards, severing the Brute's hands from his arms. He then whipped the sword around and silenced the now screaming ape via decapitation. Turning his head, Thumper looked at the Brute's corpse.

"Thanks for the save," he said, turning back to his minigun. He fired it for a few more moments, then the weapon make a squealing sound and stopped firing. Bladerunner quickly dived for his rifle, rolled onto his knees, then shot an approaching Batarain five times. As the needles supercombined, Runner popped the weapon's magenize out and inserted a fresh one. Thumper, meanwhile, pulled his secondary weapon from his back: A Type-50 Concussion Rifle.

"We're running out of ammunition," Bladerunner said. Thumper nodded,

"And outta time. Ace, we could use a hand here," Thumper replied, clicking his mic on.

"_Not to worry, gents. The cavalry has arrived,_" Ace replied. A moment later a small object bounced to where the pirates were taking cover, before exploding and reducing several Batarains and Jackels to their compornent parts. A high velocity round finished off the last Brute in the group, while a hail of mass driver fire finished the last two Jackels. Thumper and Bladerunner exitted the building, as Ace and the rest of the squad arrived outside the building and took up positions.

"Thumper, Bladerunner. Good to see you in one piece," Ace said, looking up at his Sangheili squad mates.

"And you chose a grand time to assist us," Runner replied. Ace shrugged.

"I try. Now, anything to report?" Ace said, as Hotshot fired his rifle at the few remaining pirates attacking the main building.

"Brute cheiften jumped us. Might have something on him," Thumper said. Ace nodded then clicked his tongue and raised his rifle.

"Okay. Runner, stay here. Search his body. Rest of you, on me. Let's go win us a battle."

By the time Bravo Squad reached the building where the Sangheili security forces were holded up in, the battle was over. Taking advantage of the ODST's rather noisy arrival, the securit team had rushed out and made mincemeat of the few remaining attackers. The only one left when the squad reached them was a Batarain, bloody, beaten and in the process of being tied up rather tightly. As they approached, one of the Sangheili jogged up to them.

"Thank the Forerunners you arrived. We sent out a distress call, but didn't think anyone had got it," he said. Ace nodded.

"We did. What were the Brutes after?" he asked. The Sangheili shook his head.

"If I knew, I would tell you," he said. Ace stayed silent for a moment, before nodding.

"If you don't mind, I'll be taking a look at your database. Must be something that they were after," he said, waving at Hotshot. The two then stepped past the Sangheili, who's protests were stopped short by Thumper's hand on his shoulder.

"Do you have wounded? We have a medic with us," he asked. The Sangheili paused, then nodded and lead Thumper and Dancer away.

Ace and Hotshot entered the building, a research lab from what the two could tell. Turning on his mic, Ace hailed the [i]Dawn[/i].

"Keyes, you there?" he said, as he walked through the lab.

"_Reading you loud and clear, Bravo 1. Sitrep?_" Keyes replied.

"Situation clear. Hostiles eliminated. Got some data for you to find," Ace said, finally locating a data terminal. He then pulled a small device from his belt and inserted it into the terminal's external drive slot.

"_Uplink established. Beginning data crawl_," Keyes said. Ace nodded, then killed the connection, knowing that Keyes would notify him when he was done. Depolarising his visor, he looked over at Hotshot, who did the same.

"What do you think?" Ace said. Hotshot shrugged and toyed with his rifle's scope.

"Could be nothing. Could be that they were looking for something. Whether it was data, or just gear to sell in the Terminus Systems, I dunno," the sniper replied. Ace nodded.

"_Actually, it was data they were after,_" Keyes' voice said over the coms. Ace and Hotshot looked at each other.

"What kind of data?" Ace asked.

"_The kind that get's explained when we get you off that planet. Pull the uplink, the_ Dawn _is en route for pickup._"

**ONI REPORT: N3 OPERATIONS CHIEF JAMES BUCK**

_James Buck. 30. Served in several small conflicts during his service, the largest being the Torfan Offensive. Worked with ONI before. Mostly black ops, a few anti-terror ops. He knows the drill, won't ask too many questions. Natural leader. Takes after his great grandfather, Edward Buck, for better or worse. _

_He always puts his men's safety before everything. That belief is what landed him in this job in the first place. James refused an ONI Agent's orders during an op 10 months ago, orders that would have ended in the deaths of his squad. The op went up in smoke as a result, and the agent pinned it all on James, managing to weasel out of trouble himself. The agent would later be killed while investigating Cerebus activities. _

_As for James, he found himself in military prison on Reach, awaiting trial. He stayed there for 4 months, before Admiral Steven Hackett pulled strings and got him out. Now he's got a new squad, a new mission and a second chance. For all of us, I hope he doesn't fuck it up._

**A/N: Hi. Um, yeah. I'm Watery, and this is an author's note. Well, first up: This was inspired by a combination of me reading The Last Spartan, playing Mass Effect 2 (again), and having just finished Halo 3 ODST for the nth time. **

**Secondly: I think this chapter is lackluster., Then again, I think EVERYTHING I write is lackluster. So ignore that. **

**Thirdly: Kind words and criticism is nice. And yeah. Any errors in this were missed by me and Dinojack (who kindly, and helpfully, is acting as my semi-beta reader).**


End file.
